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The company has admitted in recent weeks that water and soil samples taken at the Fukushima plant are showing high readings for other potentially dangerous substances, including caesium-137, tritium and strontium-90.

Both the amount of water seeping into the ocean and the level of the radioactivity is increasing daily. It is coming from the No2 reactor building which must be connected with the location of the melted fuel, probably now outside of the concrete and steel container vessel. This will have some impact on the ocean area next to the nuclear disaster plant.

Three new nuclear power plants are being constructed based on designs and safety standards before the nuclear disaster. I just hope those companies are carefully following all the events at Fukushima and thinking of ways to update those new constructions.

Those in charge are in cahoots with those responsible who are in cahoots with those who regulate. A perfect circle where no one is responsible and there is no pressure to actually solve the problem. That would end the circle.

Corium masses have been sat on their concrete mats since day dot when the reactors at Unit 1 and Unit 2 melted THROUGH. Although the improvised ad-hoc watering of these masses has cooled the exposed surface area of these masses, that surface in direct contact with the mat has slowly but inevitably been eating away at the structure. Now it is through. INTO the environment. The Soviets at Unit 4 at Chernobyl IMMEDIATELY saw the danger of what the Corium mass would do and drafted in hundreds of miners who dug under the reactor building to initially install a refrigeration system to cool the structure's floor and thus halt the mass from breaking though, they abandoned that idea and filled the space they'd dug with concrete. Meters thick. It stopped the disaster from going China Syndrome. TEPCO have NOT stopped this scenario from becoming reality. They've had 2 years and 4 months. The Corium mass or masses have broken out. Why does NO ONE in connection with this fiasco has ANY foresight to imagine what is going to happen? AGAIN and AGAIN only when the problem materializes is there a muted, 'Oh, did that happen?" Japan, you MUST get your act together.

Heads in sand, eh? Nope, these old boys are way in over their heads! Japan does need to call in nuclear experts from everywhere to help. I think all these nuclear scientists are way in over their heads by having crated this nuclear mess - I hate it!

TEPCO: At some point in the future, we may have to dump some irradiated water into the ocean as containment is reaching the maximum and we have no place to store it.

Translation: We've been dumping water into the ocean for some time now and should probably suggest we might at some point in the future to avoid legal action. It's EXPENSIVE to build more tanks to hold the water -- the ocean is free!

TEPCO: There may be a leak somewhere, but it's not getting into the soil or groundwater.

Translation: Man, no one's going to be able to live here for thousands of years!

TEPCO: There has been no leaking into the ocean.

Translation: Major leaking into ocean.

TEPCO: No harmful radiation has leaked into the ocean, though we suspect some radiation has seeped into the groundwater and made its way to the ocean.

Translation: Amazingly large amounts of extremely harmful, beta-emitting radiation has been detecting from numerous leaks we cannot locate. Prepare our jets for the Caymen islands... I feel a tummy-ache!

I remember early on in this crisis, that when the concrete catchment areas were supposed to stop any meltdown escaping, one of the engineers stated that they were unsure if the catchments were actually built. He stated that sometimes corners were cut to save costs. If this is so then a "China Syndrome"is highly possible. The Japanese system sure does fill one with confidence doesn't it.

Let's hope now for a kind of interest from all of those countries having bed on the pacific ocean so maybe they will start to bring those TEPCO's official to the very same world court for compensation and justice because Japan will never seek justice for their citizen in that case.

ka_chan: "Why don't they know? What is the watchdog blind, dumb, and stupid?"

It's the age-old practice of 'passing the buck', which is still highly condoned in Japan from home to the top levels of government. The government passes a law and pats itself on the back, but depends on localities to institute it as they wish. The localities wait for guidelines from the government -- nothing gets done. Likewise the NRA expects TEPCO and other utility companies to act and keep them informed, but the reason they were formed was to investigate and keep others informed. Why do you think Kan got so angry at the start of this debacle? No one knew what was going on, or what to do -- the only thing there were sure of was that they should not let actual (foreign) experts in to see the circus.

Those companies do not absolutely give a damm of whats happening or may be happening in Fukushima or elsewhere cause if they did there would not be any construction in first place...!

The construction of the new nuclear power plants started before the nuclear disaster. The construction was suspended following the nuclear disaster, and last year, permission was given to resume the construction. My question was, now there are new safety standard guidelines, will those designs be updated and in addition I hope they are watching the events at Fukushima to further think about their plant designs.

I don't agree that those power companies don't give a damn? Because of the TEPCO every single power company had to shut down their reactors and import more fossil fuel at enormous cost to them. They now also have to spend billions to update their plants.

Back to Fukushima......

If TEPCO can't locate the source of the water (need a nuclear water diviner?) and come up with a solution to stop it, it could go on for decades.....

Why are you all so scared about the radiation leaks? The amount reported are insignifcant to nature, ocean and human beings. The real damage is the irrational fear that media seems to thrive on - and from your comments seem to have adopted. Read this article: http://www.radiationandreason.com/uploads//enc_WhyFearofRadiationisWrong.pdf

It might be helpful if they left their nice Roppongi headquarters and went on-site to Fukushima to look for themselves, bring tools and experts with them, rather than sending faxes, emails and letters to staff at TEPCO HQ, who's sole purpose is obfuscation.

I also have my doubts about just how 'accidental' these releases of contaminated water are. Let's not forget that TEPCO has been seeking permission to dump contaminated water into the ocean cos they couldn't store it. On the other hand, I remember reading a report that earth had actually cracked under the reactor building and it is through this crack the water is leaking from under the reactor housing. Which one? I don't know! But, either way, the prognosis is not good!

tmarie, surely fish caught off the coast of Fukushima and sold in Tsukiji and Chiba could not be contaminated. After all, a complex set of voluntary inspections with no penalty for non-observance has been in place for over a year now, and anyway, those goods are marked produce of Tokyo and Chiba, so must be fine.

Per, this is supposed to be a company but it doesn't have the funds to pay for fixing up the mess. The Japanese public will be paying for the cleanup for the next 40 years.
That is not to forget that many of the current nuclear power stations are reaching the end of the working lives. Given the cost I am sure that the other power stations will be lining up for more hand outs from the government to mothball them as well.
The taxpayer will be footing a lot of the bill at the cost of things which SHOULD be more important.

Perhaps now the local fishermen will consider allowing Tepco to divert some of the approaching groundwater to go around the outside of Fukushima Daichi and out into the sea, instead of allowing all of it to flow under the melted-down, oops, to flow all around the melted-through corium.

On the other hand it could be that with total wash Nature has now set up a better cooling system for the corium, albeit with tens of years of deadly poisonous run-off.

Japan’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday the crippled Fukushima reactors are very likely leaking highly radioactive substances into the Pacific Ocean.

wow! good job watchdog! wasn't this crystal clear and apparent for everyone to see at the very onset way back in march of 2011?? Wasn't there even an article within the last couple months on JT about TEPCO asking permission to dump radioactive water into the ocean? Sorry to say it, but Japan = huge failure to the world, spoiling the environment and delicate balance of the ocean.

NRA charman Tanaka said it was now possible that the plant had been leaking contaminated water into the ocean for the past two and 4 months. On the same day, TEPCO's PR tried its best not to commit to anything by avoiding explanation.

Let's hope now for a kind of interest from all of those countries having bed on the pacific ocean so maybe they will start to bring those TEPCO's official to the very same world court for compensation and justice because Japan will never seek justice for their citizen in that case.

It doesn't work like that, or basically almost the whole Europe would have asked for compensation to the people responsible of Chernobyl disaster.

@alex80
"it doesn't work like that, or basically almost the whole Europe would have asked for compensation to the people responsible of Chernobyl disaster..."
we in europe are still trying to deal with that contamination as well as other ie just in
Artificial radionuclides in the Irish Sea from Sellafield -Increasing levels in Northern Ireland and Scotland
http://nuclear-news.net/2013/07/11/artificial-radionuclides-in-the-irish-sea-from-sellafield-increasing-levels-in-northern-ireland-and-scotland/
and the cover up was managed using the new "science media centres
...
Fukushima – Science Media Centres and their part in corrupting truth..
....
http://nuclear-news.net/2013/07/11/fukushima-science-media-centres-and-their-part-in-corrupting-truth/
...many parts of europ have to eat contaminated food.. the worst contaminated is hungary from medical isotopes (currently erupting again according to eurdep..
peace

Only now are they admitting this, but what about the people who have continued to live in areas like Fukushima and believed the lies they were told? What of them, now? I was just watching this last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jHuMZ9xyj0 and I can only feel so sorry for these kids who are going to suffer in later life because someone wouldn't tell the truth. They should have been evacuated long ago!

we in europe are still trying to deal with that contamination as well as other

Yeah, I know it. I live in Italy. I was only a kid when Chernobyl happened...I remember that I couldn't understand why I couldn't play in the grass. Everything was surreal...Recently, in Italy they found out some boars with traces of cesium-137 above the ruled threshold, and one hypothesis is that this is still a consequence of Chernobyl.
Plus, Chernobyl site isn't safe at all, also after 27 years.

I was only saying that nobody in Europe asked to the USSR to pay for the damages.